Hi Zerelda, and welcome to the Wine Board. The difference between the serving temperatures of red and white wine is not as much as you question may suggest. We are talking about 10 degrees F. here. Red wine should be served around 65 degrees F, and white wine around 55 degrees F. Lighter reds, such as Beaujolais are best in between at 60 degrees. Sparkling wines should be cooled to around 45 degrees.

Why the difference? It has to do with the temperatures that different wines show their best attributes at. If you drink most of your wine in restaurants you get a different picture. They typically serve white wine too cold and red wine too warm. This is because they keep their white wine in one of the refers at the same temperature as the keep butter, eggs, meats, etc. They keep their reds in a rack in an area normally kept at the same temperature as the rest of the place which is usually 70-75 degrees. This can result in a delta in the serving temps of reds and whites of 30 degrees. You can see how this is problematical. We let overchilled whites warm up before drinking. Reds are more difficult. If it comes early, and the bottle feels warm, we'll ask the server to slip it into the freezer or at least the refer until the steak is done. If worse comes to worse, we'll steal some ice from the water glass in drop it into the wine!

OK you pre-verts, today we were up in Bangor stocking up for our family invasion this weekend. After spending all our money we went to Applebees for what was our major meal of the day, and charged it. I had the Steak Madeira with mushrooms chardonnay, and all the trimmings. The best wine by the glass they offered was Mondavi Private Selection (a.k.a. Coastal) Cabernet Sauvignon. It came to the table very warm. Dropped a small cube from Mother's water into the glass of wine, and it improved it muchly. Did the same with second glass. Dan Berger and others recommend this in these situatations, so get your fingers out of your throats.

After getting home and unloading, I got into a bottle of Bleasdale 'Mulberry Tree' Cab. Had to leave for a meeting, and got home in time to finish it with some nice Canadian chedder. LIfe is good.

Yes, I sappose you are correct. I have never paid much attention to the temperature. When I am through for the evening, I always re-cork the bottle and place on top of my refrigerator. When I feel like a glass, I have one (even if it is 90 degrees out)The temp of the wine has never bothered my. I guess it is the preference of each individuals taste. I do drink white Zinfindale with ice though, but on the other hand, White Zin is totally different from Merlot.
Tammy